Learning to read: A third perspective

Abstract

How children learn to read is a controversial matter. Since the teaching of literacy has always been a major purpose of schooling, pedagogy and teaching methods have generally framed research and practice. Psychologists and linguists have played a major role in determining what we mean by “literacy learning”. Although they disagree on whether children should start with phonics and work toward meaning or vice versa, both limit the task to the cognitive and linguistic capabilities of the individual. In this article, I argue for an extension of this paradigm, whereby sociocultural theories are given equal value with both psychological and linguistic perspectives. Using examples from ethnographic studies in London, I show how children learn complex texts by becoming members of communities they wish to join. Through playing, rehearsing, modelling, and practice, they learn the value of literacy alongside the cognitive and linguistic skills needed for learning to take place.